


I'm Gonna Make This Place Your Home

by ApathyPrism, That_One_Parent_Like_Friend



Series: To Build a Home [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe, Autistic Caboose, Bullying, Character Death, F/M, Foster Care, Homophobic Language, M/M, Major Character Injury, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prosthesis, Single Dad Sarge, Teen Pregnancy, Trans Dick Simmons, Trans Tucker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-04-26 14:11:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14403801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApathyPrism/pseuds/ApathyPrism, https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_One_Parent_Like_Friend/pseuds/That_One_Parent_Like_Friend
Summary: Basically what happens when you re-watch the Blood Gulch Chronicles and look too closely at team dynamics and think "What if Sarge was Simmons' dad and was also looking after Donut, Grif, and Sister?"Retired staff sergeant, Sergeant Simmons, known mostly as "Sarge", left the military after his wife died to take care of his daughter, and eventually fostering Franklin, Dexter, and Kaikaina. He works for Leonard Church at Mother of Invention Industries as his head of security, his children friends with Leonard's daughter Carolina and sons Michael "Caboose" and Lavernius. Along the way, they grow up - and everything that entails - and learn to deal with personal tragedies. And maybe try and set Sarge up with someone. God knows the man is lonely.





	1. Meet the Reds

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so a few things I might want to clear up, some of which are spoilers, but it should also be kinda obvious. I personally am not autstic or trans, though I try to be understanding and am being advised on certain points by my friends who are. At the start of this, Tucker is already out as trans and mostly just wears a binder, whereas Simmons has yet to fully realize it and still goes by she/her and his birth name Rachel. As has been pointed out, there is Grimmons in this, and at the start Grif and Simmons are foster siblings, but that changes later on. While it's noted that they both see Donut as a younger brother, they don't see each other as siblings. As for Grif and sister's last name, I've decided to give them a more Hawaiian last name until they end up being adopted later on.

        Getting a call from the school concerning Rachel and Dexter getting into a fight wasn't exactly how the retired sergeant expected to spend his afternoon. It got even worse when he found out that it hadn't been each other, but another group of kids. Hearing the reason why made the man absolutely furious. "You mean to tell me that my kids sticking up for their brother got them in trouble? Sorry, but you're gonna have to run that by me again on why that was a good idea. What about the kids that were picking on Franklin? Are _they_ in trouble?"

        The vice principal looked shocked at the question. "Why should they be? They're the ones who got hurt."

        "You're kidding me, right? You two, I want names. I'm gonna have a talk with their parents," the man told them, motioning them to get up.

        "I'm sorry, sir, but you can't do that. But if you really need to discuss this with their parents, we can arrange a meeting with the counselor. However, school policy is strictly against private meetings when there are disputes between their children."

        "No offense, ma'am, but I really don't agree with most of your policies, such as only punishing my young'uns when they were standing up for their brother against obvious bullies. Now, where's Franklin?"

        The two looked at each other, trying to figure out where the other boy of their family could be. Deciding he'd probably be at the counselor's office, they led the man there, a blond boy with shorts and a pink t-shirt on sitting in a chair next to another boy who was wearing a purple shirt and a pair of jeans. The other boy was familiar to the aging man, Franklin bringing him home often for homework, or just to hang out. The man behind the desk nodded and pointed out that the blond had visitors, Franklin immediately running to the door and throwing his arms open for a hug.

        "Sarge, you actually came!"

        "Course I did. If you're done, I was thinkin' we could all grab some ice cream on our way home to have after dinner," he told him, pulling the boy in for that hug he wanted. "Frank can come over for dinner later, too, if he wants."

        Franklin's eyes lit up at that, looking over his shoulder at the other boy. His smile got even wider when Frank agreed. Sarge soon had the kids collect their things from their lockers after Franklin said a quick goodbye, and they headed to the store for ice cream. The four of them sat around for a couple of hours watching a movie before the man had to go and pick up Grif's little sister Kaikaina from school, and after that, he'd start dinner. By then, Frank would be on his way and everyone could settle into their normal routine. And after Frank went back home, he'd talk with Franklin about what had happened at school.

        Unfortunately, he could probably guess the problem already. Franklin seemed to be the first of the older kids to go through puberty and was discovering who he was and who he liked. Right now it was fairly obvious that the young teen was most likely attracted to his best friend, outside of Michael, Dexter, and Rachel. Despite being a former military man, the sergeant didn't mind if Franklin liked boys. It was more than a little common these days, and he didn't see why people were still acting like it was the ultimate sin.

        Carrying in Kaikaina on his shoulders, he went to the kitchen to see Frank sitting at the counter, Franklin peeling some of the potatoes for dinner. The two boys were chatting away, smiles on their faces, and he couldn't remember seeing either of them happier. Putting the little girl down, Sarge went to get the rest of dinner started while she ran off to find her brother and Rachel, who were hopefully doing their homework.

        "So, what've you boys been talkin' about? Seemed pretty excited when I came in."

        "Oh, not much. Just the kind of classes we might take when we get into high school," Franklin told him in a light tone.

        "Really now? That's not for another three years."

        "You can never be too prepared for your future, Sarge. My parents think it's good to plan ahead as far as you can."

        Sarge thought about it and shrugged a bit after a while. He didn't see the harm in that. He just expected Rachel to be the one thinking about that sort of thing first. Maybe Dexter's laziness was finally getting to her. He was joking of course, Dex was just a good kid who did things at his own pace. Then again, for all he knew, his daughter had planned everything out for the next 5 years of her school career. Wouldn't surprise him in the slightest if she managed to do the same for Dexter.

        Dinner went as well as it usually did, Frank offering to help do dishes with Rachel since Sarge and Franklin had done all of the cooking. Once everything was on the drying rack, Franklin walked to the door with his best friend and the boys hugged before the Jamaican teen went back home. As soon as the door was shut, the man sat a hand on his youngest boy's shoulder and led him back to the living room. "Son, what happened at school today?"

        "The usual, CT and her friends were picking on me- called me a lot of names." Franklin curled in on himself a little as they sat on the couch, wishing he didn't have to think about it. "Sarge?"

        "Yeah?"

        "What's a faggot?"

        Oh God, help him get through this. This was something he wasn't ready for. He knew the blond was going to eventually have questions about this, but he didn't want to explain such a cruel word to a 6th grader who wasn't even sure of his sexuality yet. "It- It's a slur for people who are attracted to other people of the same gender." He'd at least explained what a slur was to the kids, considering one of their babysitters was Hispanic and some people in the area still weren't okay with the Mexican taking care of a bunch of children that weren't his, all of the said kids not even related to each other, except for Dex and Kai.

       "T-then why did they call me that? I'm not- I don't know what I am. I just wanna be normal like Dex and Rach!" he told the man, starting to cry into his crossed arms.        "Hey, none of that. Look at me. Franklin, you _are_ normal. Those kids are just mean and don't understand that. Don't let anyone ever tell you you're not normal or don't fit in. You are, and you'll always have a place here," he told him, pulling Franklin into a hug. "Don't let nobody tell you any different. You hear me?"

        Right before bed, the old sergeant called the kids into the hall for the usual lineup. Everyone was dressed for bed, all standing at attention. "Alright, cadets, homework done?" Everyone gave a quick 'yes, Sarge' in response. "Hmm. Teeth brushed? Girls had your showers?" Everyone answered the first question while Rachel and Kaikaina replied to the second. "Now, who's ready for goodnight hugs?" He smiled a little when Kai "broke protocol" and began jumping with a hand raised, wanting first hugs of the night. "Just for that- Private Donut, you get first hugs." Kai pouted a bit as the blond stepped forward and hugged their father of sorts for a moment before getting back into the lineup. "Next, young Private ʻŌpūnui, since she's learned to wait. But if she does this again, she's going last. Understood?"

        "Yes, Sarge." She then hopped into his arms as he gave her an almost crushing bear hug. Her older brother was next, who almost seemed embarrassed be this, given he was starting to feel too old for this kind of thing, but it was still nice. And last was Rachel, who wrapped her arms around her father's neck as he bent down some to be more on her level. The four of them would always joke that she'd end up growing like a weed soon, maybe to the point of being taller than Dexter.

        "Alright, that's all for tonight cadets. Sleep well. And I expect you boys to be up bright and early for showers tomorrow. Unless Private ʻŌpūnui wants his shower after Private Donut." Dex groaned a little at that reminder. "Dismissed." The five of them all saluted as the children told Sarge goodnight before Rachel led Kaikaina to their room while Dexter and Franklin went to the one across from them.

      Locking all the doors and closing the curtains, Sarge soon made his way to his own room, worn out from everything. Church would want to know what had happened, and while he knew how understanding the father of three was, how did you tell your boss that your daughter and older foster son got in a fight with some kids at school because they'd called his other foster son names like that? Things had seemed so much easier before his wife had died. That was really the only reason he'd finally retired, because Rachel needed someone. He honestly couldn't remember the events that led to him fostering the other three too well, but he knew why. With just him and Rachel, it was too quiet. It set his nerves on edge. At least with this he was making a difference in the lives of three kids who would probably be lost in the system otherwise. That made all the times he had to leave work early completely worth it.


	2. Meet the Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reds and Blues have a little playdate. Caboose is a precious bean that deserves love and protection.

         Leonard Church didn't normally consider himself a patient man. That was his wife's job, and he thanked God everyday for that. He didn't think he could handle a high schooler and two younger teens on his own. "Lavernius Tucker Church, give Caboose his markers back, please? I've had a headache since last night. Carolina, can you please help me with your brothers?" he nearly begged the red haired teen as he downed the rest of his coffee.

         "Can't handle a couple of boys on your own, Dad?" she joked, taking the pack of markers from her adopted brother and handing them back to Michael. Carolina then ruffled Lavernius' hair some before giving her youngest brother a kiss on his cheek. She knew Lavernius was just joking, but Michael wasn't 'all there' - as some people said - all the time and found it hard to express himself sometimes. 

        "Thank you, Carolina. Your mom should be back soon, but I need to get going to the office. Think you can hold down the fort until she gets here?" 

        "Should be no problem. I might pull out the Legos in a bit to keep everyone occupied for a while. Mike can draw until then." 

        "That's my girl. I'll try and make it home early today. You can probably go hang out with your friends later if your mom's okay with it." Going around the table, Leonard placed a kiss on top of his sons' heads before placing one on his only daughter's forehead. "You three behave. And keep an eye on Alpha for me? He seems to be fine now, but he had another seizure last night. I'd really hate to have to put him down if they get too bad." He muttered that last part to Carolina, not wanting his youngest to hear. 

        "I'm sure he'll be fine today, Dad. Now get going. Isn't this project of yours really important?" 

        "Yeah. Thanks so much Carolina." With a quick hug, the man was out the door and heading to work, hoping everything would be okay today. 

        Once the door was shut, Carolina started picking up the breakfast dishes and took them to the kitchen to wash later. She then went to pull out the Lego bin and sat it by the couch in the living room for when their mom got back with the Simmons kids. And while she knew most of them weren't Sergeant Simmons' actual kids, she thought it was nice what he was doing. She especially liked how well her baby brother had taken to Rachel and Franklin. Mike didn't really have an easy time making friends, as several of his classmates probably found him annoying or too stupid due to his communication issues. Most times he struggled to find the right words, but once he got to know some people he tended to be quite the chatter box. Others just thought he came on too strongly with how he'd either bring up the train set he'd just gotten for his birthday or even how their dad took him to the R&D department at work once and he really liked all the robots there.

        Lavernius eventually made his way from the dining table and dug around for some random Lego pieces to try making something to impress his younger brother as a sort of apology for taking his markers earlier. Like a lot of people, he found it hard to get along with Michael sometimes, but the younger boy understood his older brother meant well most times and would be there to protect him at school. Michael knew what words were mean things for people to say, and he knew that other kids shouldn't push him around like they tried doing. 

        After a while, the front door finally opened up as the Simmons kids came in, Mike getting up in seconds and running to the entryway. "Mom!" 

        Allison smiled at seeing her little boy, opening her arms wide for a hug as he ran into her. "My little Caboose. Did you behave for your father while I was gone?" 

        "Uh-huh. Tucker took my markers for a bit, but Carol and Dad made him give them back. But he was just playing. Dad's at work, I think, and Carol and Tucker are in the living room. Carol said we were gonna play with Legos," he told the woman happily. Even with being as old as he was, Mike still had problems calling Lavernius by his first name, so he just called him Tucker to save on time. 

        "That's good. Now why don't you go play with the others? I need to check on Alpha," she told him, giving her son a gentle push towards the living room where the other kids were gathered. 

        Soon enough, Michael was laying on the floor in a little group with Lavernius, Franklin, and Rachel as they started adding on to the structure Lavernius had started. Meanwhile, Carolina was helping Dex with Kaikaina to build the biggest tower possible from the blocks. For a moment, Allison was pretty sure she'd never seen a happier bunch of kids, despite their problems. But no matter what everyone thought was wrong with them, she just knew it was what made each kid special. 

        From what little she knew about Dexter and Kai, they'd been in the system longer than Franklin had. Pretty much from the time Kai was a toddler. Franklin, however, was from a rather abusive home that tried to push down even the slightest thing that went against the normally accepted gender roles. Then her own son Lavernius had come out to her and her husband just last year about not feeling like a girl, and, after talking with a therapist recommended by his case worker, they settled on the idea he was trans and he picked a new name for himself that he felt more comfortable with. That was another reason calling him Tucker was easier on Michael. As for her biological children, Carolina was cursed with her own temper and competitive streak, while Michael was somewhere on the autism spectrum. It was a bit harder to pin down what it was exactly, due to the changes they kept making to it. But no matter what, she adored these kids. 

        The day crept on at a decent pace, Franklin talking everyone's ear off about his friend from school who shared a similar name as him every chance he got while Michael would mention his last trip to Leonard's work from time to time, bringing up how he thought the things he was building were neat. Once in a while, Lavernius would look over his shoulder just to tease Carolina about one of her friends- York Newport, if Allison recalled correctly- which caused the girl to lightly slap at her adopted brother's leg. 

        "Mom, Carol hit me," he whined weakly, obviously faking.

        "Well, next time don't tease her. Even if we all know he's going to ask her out one of these days," the woman said with a sly smile, petting the cat that had hopped into her lap as she watched the kids. Beta was a sweetheart when she wanted attention.

        Carolina blushed at this, pulling at the hem of her jean shorts. She was still in her awkward teenage years where she still wasn't sure about approaching a boy in a way other than to be friends and hang out with other friends, though Allison could tell she'd probably be like herself when the teenaged girl got older. Carolina and York would be cute together. 

        Around lunch, Leonard had apparently gotten time to eat and called his wife, asking about how the kids were behaving and if Alpha had been fine. Thankfully the old wolf-dog was just laying around in whichever dog bed he preferred at the moment. "So, I take it you're making progress?" 

        "Tons. F.I.L.L.S. is gonna put that old SIRI tech to shame. And we finally found a doctor willing to start field testing our newest prosthesis. One Doctor Emily Grey. I'm not gonna lie, she sorta reminds me of Sarge with her little mad scientist act." There was a faint complaint of 'dirtbag' in the background, meaning Sarge was actually taking a break for once. "Oh, yeah, tell Sarge's kids he says hi." Within seconds, there was a small chorus of 'hellos' back at him as she held out the phone for them to reply. 

        Putting the phone back to her ear, Allison tried finishing up the sandwiches. "Carolina said you might be home early tonight. You're not up to something, are you?"

        "Pfft. Me, up to something. Could you imagine?" This time she heard Sarge laughing, obviously enjoying the man's failure at lying to his wife. "Anyway, if you could try and get the kids to dress nice by maybe 6-ish? I've got reservations at Armonia for us." 

        "Armonia, huh? Must be celebrating something big." 

        "Well, yeah. We're gonna start testing F.I.L.L.S. next week and Dr. Grey's agreed to testing the prosthesis. This is huge. My dad could only dream of something like this. Anyway, I'll let you get back to the kids. Oh! And make sure to tell Caboose I've got something cool for him." 

        For a moment, Allison worried about that, knowing the boy was fond of the metal contraptions at Mother of Invention's R&D department. But she knew her husband wouldn't bring home something dangerous for him. "Alright. You boys don't have too much fun at work. See you tonight," she told him before hanging up and calling the kids in to eat. "Alright you little heathens." 

        Carolina soon came in followed by a bunch of kids, Lavernius right behind her, followed by Rachel, Dexter, Franklin, Michael, and then little Kaikaina. They were like a family of ducks, the blond woman thought as they grabbed their plates and were given drinks. After lunch, Carolina went down to York's house, where their other friends would be meeting up, leaving Allison alone with the kids. She put Kai in her bed for a nap while the older kids decided on a movie to watch until Sarge came to get his four. 

        "Just put something in already," Franklin whined, leaning on an arm of the couch. 

        Lavernius laughed to himself a little before finally settling on something they would all agree on. As soon as they heard the theme music and saw the starry background, all five were sitting at attention and watching the words scrolling up the television screen. Star Wars was a favorite series of theirs, so the only arguments were bound to be about the story or the usefulness of certain characters, not to mention Mike bringing up the fact that he liked the droids.

        Later that afternoon, Sarge finally came by with Leonard. "Everyone behaved today?" the older man asked as his kids got  their stuff together.

        "Yep. Rachel and Dexter actually didn't fight once today. I thought it was a little weird at first, but I figured it was probably a good day or something."

        "You could say that. There was an incident at school the other day, so I guess that's been on their minds more than anythin'. Franklin didn't look upset any, did he?" She shook her head slightly as the kids all came up, Dex carrying Kai on his back.

         "We're ready, Sarge," Rachel told her dad before they all hugged Allison goodbye, waving to Leonard as they walked out to the car. 

         Once they five were gone, Leonard hugged his wife. "Good to be home. Where's Caboose?" The woman kissed his cheek and pointed him in the right direction, following him to their youngest's room. "Hey, buddy, got something for you. Close your eyes."  
   
         Doing so, he held out his hands, unsure how big his present was. Upon feeling a small, round, metallic object in his hands, he opened his eyes again and gasped in surprise. "Neat! What is it?"

         "It's a foil ball. I got a little bored at one point and decided to polish some foil I had laying around. It's like those stress balls, but lighter and it doesn't make noise. This way, if you ever need help to calm down, you can just play with this until you feel better." 

         Seeing Michael happy like he was now really made Leonard feel like all his hours at work were worth it, no matter how much he'd prefer to be home more and see his kids. Hopefully now that his major projects were looking more promising, that would lead to more days where he could leave eary like this. To think, Carolina only had a couple more years until she was off to college and Mike and Lavernius would be in high school soon. It shouldn't be possible for his kids to be growing up this fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was longer than the first. Anyway, these first few chapters are to get used to how the characters act with each other in this story. But now that the main cast has been introduced, I'll explain a couple more things. Caboose, Doc, and Donut are all in the same sixth grade class, while Tucker, Simmons, and Grif are in 7th grade. Sister's probably in second grade. Meanwhile, Carolina is a sophomore with York, North, and South, and Wash is a freshman with the Triplets, who will probably actually be triplets in this. Unfortunately, I'm not sure when I'll actually introduce Wash.
> 
> Also, this chapter might change a little later on, as I'm not entirely happy with some parts, but I'm not sure how to change them at the moment. Unlike me, my Guinea pigs are sleeping because school is a thing and I really wanted to get this second chapter out. *sighs* Of all the things I decide to do at 3 in the morning.


	3. Carolina's Crew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carolina's small group gets a little bigger, and it turns out they're secretly a cult. Who knew?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here it is, finally. Not the chapter 3 I wanted, but I like this one a bit better. This came about after talking over 'plot points' with one of my friends and children ApathyPrism. Also, still quite a bit of dialogue. I feel like the first five chapters are gonna end up like the BGC, a lot of standing around and talking with just a hint of plot.

        Very little could distract Carolina most days at lunch when she was going over a study guide for a test for the 20th time that day, aside from York constantly nudging her foot with his. Except that wasn't happening at the moment, which led to her picking at her food and looking over her shoulders and around the cafeteria trying to locate where the boys were. After a few more minutes, she finally spotted them with another boy she'd barely recognized as a freshman. York waved her down and the two blonds followed after him as he made his way to their table. 

        "Carol, this is David, he's new to the team and we figured we'd let him spend lunch with us. That okay with you?" York asked, as he sat.

        "Sure, more the merrier. Carolina, but you can call me Carol. I see you unfortunately know the idiots I hang out with," she introduced herself, laughing when York faked being hurt by clutching his chest.

        "You wound me so, 'Lina."

        "Oh cry on North's shoulder. That's what it's there for."

        By now, David had sat down a couple of spots away from her and began eating his own lunch. "Are you guys usually like this?" he asked, mildly concerned in case this wasn't normal.

        "Yeah, we're harmless. Mostly. Well, me and North. But don't let her fool ya, Carol here can kick you right into one of the goal posts with almost no effort," York informed the smaller blond, grinning as that look of concern grew.

        "Don't listen to York, he likes trying to scare the rookies with wild stories," North reassured him, kicking the brunette lightly in the shin.

        Carolina just waved them off and turned to David. "So tell us about yourself. Any siblings or anything?" she asked. "I personally have two little brothers. They're great. My youngest brother, Michael, we call him Caboose because he's in love with this train set our dad got him. He's just the most precious kid ever."

        "Dear God, I would beat up anyone who was ever mean to that kid. What is there, like, some kind of line now? Isn't Flowers in charge of the line or something?" York asked, looking at the red head.

        "The line keeps changing order," she told him, shrugging it off. All she knew was she was at the front of that line at all times.

        After thinking it over for a bit, David eventually told them about his older sisters who were all graduated from or currently attending college, except for one who was going into the military. By the end of lunch, all three older teens had sworn to protect the little dork of their group when he brought up one instance of not paying attention while skateboarding on his way home and running right into a tree. Just as they were going to separate for class, Carolina offered to let him come over with the guys so they could hang out, since it was just her and her brothers after school instead of the usual swarm of kids.

        Once at the house, Carolina was carrying Michael piggy back while the boys followed behind her. Lavernius had a doctor's appointment that day, so he was already home with their mother, completely unaware that his sister was bringing friends over - especially a new friend. So walking into the living room and seeing York practically laying on North like normal and the three older teens talking to some strange new blond guy was a bit weird. Unfortunately, Carolina spotted him walking by and called out to him.

        "Hey, Tuck, c'mere a sec. North and York adopted a stray."

        "You make it sound like he's some kind of mangy dog," York teased the smaller blond.

        "Nah, pretty sure that's you, York. David seems more like a cat person."

        The new boy, David, just laughed and shook his head at the others' antics. "It's nice to meet you. You're Lavernius, I take it?" he asked the seventh grader, looking up at him from where he sat on the floor by Carolina.

        "Uh, yeah. I think everyone's just kinda starting to Tucker now, though." Who knew picking a new name he'd thought fit him more would get him even more teasing.

        "Too bad, Lavernius is kind of cool. You don't hear it a lot."

        The younger boy looked at this freckle-faced blond for a moment. Did he just compliment his name? Most of the time, when his name was brought up, people just looked at him and asked what kind of name _Lavernius_ was, but David actually thought it was cool. What was his life anymore?

        "Oh my God, David, you broke my little brother," Carolina laughed, getting up and going over to the boy. "C'mon, Tucker, let's go grab some snacks, huh?"

        Snapping out of it, he replied with "Wha- Oh, yeah, sure," and followed after his big sister to the kitchen. He wasn't sure why he thought it was such a big deal that David had complimented his first name, but it sort of gave him this warm feeling in his stomach. He almost missed Carolina talking to him because of it.

        "So, finally getting your first crush? Gotta say, pretty ambitious to go after a freshman, but it could be worse. It could be a senior."

        "Wait. What? I- I don't have a crush on him. I barely even know him, let alone even spoke to him. What the heck, Carol?"

        She just poked at his cheek for a moment before pulling her hand back when he went to slap it away, clearly irritated. "Look, Tucker, you don't have to know people to get a crush on them. Little things like compliments like what David said can start them. Doesn't hurt that he's kinda cute, too. Maybe you'll get over it, maybe you won't. Sometimes it takes time, but that's not the point. Right now he's a freshman and you, sir, are in the seventh grade. Sure it may be a two year gap, but I think Dad would have a heart attack if you asked to start dating a high-schooler."

        They didn't really talk like this often, and it was kind of nice when they did. Carolina wasn't always the most open, but she cared about her younger brothers and there was a reason she was at the front of the lines to beat up anyone who hurt them. Even if Lavernius wasn't a sibling by blood, she would do anything for him. This boy was her little brother and that's all that mattered to her and Michael.

        "Yeah, and I'd hate to see what Mom would do. But you won't tell him, right, Carol? Even if I do still have a crush on him, like, months later?" he asked, sort of worried if that would end up being the deal.

        "I promise. Now let's get this stuff back to the living-room before it turns out they've all died of starvation while we've been talking. You can even join us for a good old game of 'Tease the Heck Out of York' if you want." Which, honestly, when weren't they playing that? It didn't help that the brunette made himself an easy target.

        When they stepped back into the room, the three older boys waved at them while they went about dispensing snacks. "So, as it turns out, dear David's last name is Washington, just like how North's is Dakota," York started, the shorter blond immediately hiding his face in shame. "You know what that means, Carolina."

        "Oh, that's rough, dude. They're gonna pull you into their weird state nickname cult now," Lavernius joked, opening up his bottle of Gatorade.

        "Cult?" David sounded worried at this, having firmly believed his new group of friends were actually normal.

        A small throw pillow was soon seen flying across the room, only for a red and aqua blur to run over to block it before it hit the middle-schooler square in the face. She laid there for a moment, faking death across her brother's lap, posed dramatically before he went to tickle her stomach. Thankfully, Carolina stopped him before any damage could be done and she sat up.

        "Well, looks like York didn't want the secret out, but since you're a new initiate, you're allowed to be told. This 'cult' of ours is in two parts. One: if at all possible, we hand out a state nickname to anyone we can. Two: we name our pets after Greek alphabet letters. Our parents actually started that one. For nicknames, we have Carolina and New York present with North Dakota, and his twin sister is South Dakota."

        "And you probably haven't met him yet, but there's this senior who's a total douche that we secretly nicknamed Georgia because he reminds us of Carol's asshole grandfather who was from Georgia," York informed him, now in a more relaxed pose. "Didn't we nickname some of the staff? he asked after a moment.

        Tucker was the one to speak up here, knowing some of the people they'd granted state names to. "Yeah, my school's counselor is Florida, and your English lit. teacher is, for some weird reason, Wyoming."

        David blinked for a moment, trying to think of the man. After asking for a description, he just looked at them. "You nicknamed Mr. Doyle after the state of Wyoming?" The three sophomores nodded at this. "That is . . . . the worst nickname to give to a British person ever. Of all time."

        "To be fair, we could've done that to Principal Doyle instead. Poor guy would probably faint trying to figure out why," North told him, as if that was any sort of defense for their antics.

       "Alright, so, just how many people have the last name Doyle in this school system?"

        "Oh boy. Alright, so our principal is Donald Doyle, and his brother's name is Reginald, and then our principal's wife, Vanessa, is also the principal of Tucker's school. Our dear English lit. teacher is also married to the middle school counselor, but Mr. Flowers decided to keep his name to not confuse everyone in the district."

        "God bless Florida," York said, raising his own drink in a sort of toast, the other two high-schoolers and Lavernius doing the same. "But, yeah, I think Wyoming and Florida have a kid? We've seen him a couple of times, and I'm pretty sure they hyphenated his name. What do they call him?"

        "Loco. Him and Caboose are pretty much train buddies. Florida and Dad agreed it was probably good for them to socialize a bit, especially when Florida mentioned a train museum when they were talking one time. Oh my God, Caboose would not shut up about it until Dad said he could go."

        David had only seen Michael for a few minutes after they'd picked him up from school, and even then he'd mostly been quiet and kept to Carolina, so he didn't quite understand the younger boy's frustration over his younger brother wanting to see a train museum so badly. He didn't have much time to think about this, however, when a cat crawled into his lap, one he recognized as a Russian blue. It was soon comfortable and purring, and the young blond felt blessed, even before Lavernius came over to pet the feline and explained things.

        "This is Beta, our mom's cat. She's not normally this nice with strangers, but she's been really cuddly lately since she's gotten pregnant. Omega's probably around here, too, making sure she doesn't get hurt. He doesn't like anyone, so I wouldn't even try petting him, even if he looks like he'll let you," the dark skinned boy warned, scratching under Beta's chin, which made her purr louder. "Our dad has a dog, too, named Alpha. He's probably watching Caboose right now."

        Petting behind the cat's ears, he just nodded, not looking up to anyone when he asked, "So this is the pets named after Greek letters thing?"

        "Yep. I've got a parrot named Delta, then North and South have two pups named Theta and Eta. You got any pets, Wash?"

        It took a second to realize York meant him before he shook his head. "But if my parents let me, think I could have one of Beta's kittens?"

        "I'm sure we could work something out. Welcome to the club, Wash," Carolina told him, watching him relax completely for the first time all day.


	4. Pumpkin Carving With Lopez

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What it says on the label. The kids stay with Lopez for a few hours and carve their Jack-o-lanterns for the Churches' annual Nightmare of Invention that Leonard holds where he and his staff essentially turn the building into a haunted house/mad scientist's lair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so, so sorry for this extremely late update, as I've been going through personal issues that have led to some rather unreliable internet access and lack of motivation/ideas for this chapter. Then I realized this was the perfect time to finish this and chapter 5, which will be done in a couple of days. I'll make sure to keep the link to the Cut My Hair animatic at the bottom. And as a slight disclaimer, I am unfortunately monolingual, though I know some words/phrases in a handful of other languages, so I kind of kept Lopez true to form here and used Google Translate Spanish. I'll include the translations at the bottom as well.

        It was one of those days when everyone seemed extra busy, so the Simmons kids were all staying with Lopez for the day to carve the pumpkins they'd bought the day before while Sarge and the Churches were all getting Mother of Invention Industries ready for the annual *Nightmare of Invention* haunted house that Mr. Church had been doing since Carolina was a kid. This would be Rachel and Dexter's second time going and Franklin's first since Sarge thought he was a bit young last year. The older kids were currently marking their pumpkins with their chosen designs while Lopez was helping Kai with a basic Jack-o-lantern face. There was a growing pile of pumpkin guts laying on a sheet tray that they were going to pick the seeds out of later for toasting and the small carving kits were all set away from Kaikaina. 

        Dexter leaned over, trying to get a look at the design Rachel was working on. "Whatcha doin', nerd? Putting a math problem in yours?"

        The red head rolled her eyes at this and flicked his nose before concentrating on cutting just outside the lines to make sure there weren't any black marker smudges. "If you _have_ to know, I'm carving the pi symbol into mine. Jerk. . . . "

        Franklin just did his best to ignore the two throwing insults at each other every so often while carving their Jack-o-lanterns, more worried about making sure the lines were drawn right on his. He'd spent weeks looking over possible options with Frank in attempts to find just the right one. Unlike Dex and Rach who were doing a fully carved pumpkin, he was going to just be etching the image in without cutting through the shell. He didn't really see the appeal of "traditional" pumpkin carving.

         At the kitchen counter, Lopez had Kai standing in a chair, helping him clean out the inside of her pumpkin. He'd already put the face into it, just because it was easier to see the inside of it at different angles that way. Her older brother smiled a bit when he heard the elementary schooler giggling and yelling about the slimy feeling of the seeds and whatever that stringy stuff holding them was. "Guts! Guts!" she squealed, sticking her hand in through the top and letting her finger wiggle in the 'mouth'. "Dex, look! It ate my hand!" Somehow she'd managed to get a chunk on her face, probably from rubbing at it with a guts-covered hand.

         The expression on Lopez's face was that of abject horror at this strange child he was having to watch over for the next couple of hours. "Niña, ¿qué carajo?" The older kids knew to an extent this was how Lopez got away with swearing in front of them, as they couldn't understand him, so they didn't know exactly _what_ swears he was using. Of course, he had no problem speaking English, but he did find it amusing to only speak Spanish sometimes when Sarge was dropping them off or picking them up. The kids would have to try not to laugh as their guardian made up entire conversations with their babysitter. "¿Qué te está enseñando ese loco?"

         By the time the others were done, Franklin was still working meticulously away at his pumpkin, wanting it to be absolutely perfect. "Did you really have to pick something so elaborate for yours?" Rachel asked, standing over his shoulder to see just how extensive the rose pattern she spotted was.

         "Yep! And don't ask why. I'll just make you guys wait until Sarge comes to get us."

         She just left him to it and went to clean Kai up while Dexter started helping Lopez pick out the seeds. The Hispanic man had decided he'd been traumatized by watching the little Hawaiian girl play in pumpkin guts enough for one day and let her have a snack and play on her own for a bit. Once the youngest was left to her own devices, the older girl joined them, going through a pile that had already been looked over in case the other two missed any seeds. They were gonna have so many toasted seeds to snack on for _days_ after this. That is, if Dex didn't eat them all on his own behind their backs.

         It took maybe half an hour of digging through the slimy, stringy insides before Lopez thought they had enough and sent the oldest two to wash up after Dexter decided it was a good idea to touch Rachel's face with his gut-covered hands, which only made the girl retaliate in a similar manner. "If Sage wasn't gray before them, they're certainly the ones who caused it," he muttered, putting the baking sheet in the oven and setting the timer. Looking over at the kitchen table, he saw the blond of the group still whittling away at the gourd. "Is it even going to be done today?"

         Franklin nodded, turning the 'face' towards Lopez for the man to see. "I've just got a couple more petals to do and then it's done~! Think Sarge is gonna like it?" he asked, dusting off the crevices he'd carved out.

         "I don't see why he shouldn't. If they judge these, I'm pretty sure you'd win."

         "I hope so." In total, there were five roses, the central one being the largest, while four smaller ones surrounded it, the smallest being a recently bloomed bud.

         After about another hour, Franklin had finished his Jack-o-lantern and cleaned up his mess as well as himself, joining the other three in the living room to wait for Sarge to come back while the seeds cooled off so they could be bagged up and sent home with them. As soon as they heard the door open, the four children ran to the former sergeant, making sure to grab their Jack-o-lanterns to show them off. Franklin showed his off last since it was the most detailed.

         "This looks really great. Is it s'possed to mean somethin'?" he asked, a hand running over the grooves of each rose.

         "It's us! The big one in the middle is you, these two that are kinda smaller are Dex and Rach, I'm this even smaller one, and the tiny one that just bloomed is Kai!" the boy explained confidently, though he was a bit embarrassed.

         The kids heard a choked noise come from the older man, Lopez looking at him with some concern, knowing he was holding back tears. "That's- Thank you, Franklin. This means a lot." Regaining his composure, he had the kids group around him and asked the other man to take a picture, wanting to remember this for a good, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lopez's Spanish:  
> "Child, what the fuck?"  
> "What has that crazy man been teaching you?"
> 
> ApathyPrism's Cut My Hair animatic:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-3kfKw6T8Q


	5. The Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has an unforgettable Halloween that they'd rather not remember, and some things only get worse from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this is the long awaited tragedy of the fic where everything seems to go downhill in an instant and where a chunk of the tags start to come in. This chapter is mostly focused on the Red Team kids, but I may be able to sneak some more of the Blues in the next one. So just some warnings, there's talk of character death and missing limbs and some other injuries. I'm fairly sure none of it's graphic, though. This chapter also takes place over several days, but it all sort of just blends together since it's mostly from Simmons' perspective.

        Waking up in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar and cold room, Rachel was suddenly worried when all she felt was pain and her left arm and leg wouldn't move like she wanted them to. She barely registered the heart monitor getting louder as the panic set in, but she did hear her father's voice yelling out into the hallway for a nurse or doctor. After several seconds, she felt her dad's hands holding her down, trying to calm her while a woman was on the other side of the bed and putting something into her IV drip. Then things got fuzzy as she blinked away the tears, looking up at Sarge.

        "D-Dad, what happened?" Rachel rarely ever called him dad, so used to everyone just calling him Sarge. That's who he was with everyone, the Sarge. But moments like these happened sometimes, when the young ginger girl would be scared and confused, clinging to the last bit of her family that she had.

        "I'm sorry, hun, they. . . . they had to take your arm and leg. After they got y'all outta the car, they were too messed up. The doc said they wouldn't heal right, even with a cast. I'm so, so sorry, Rach."

        Was- was he crying? She wasn't used to this. Sarge never cried, especially in front of them. But if she'd had to be taken out of the car- "Dad, whe-where's Dex? And Franklin? What about Caboose? Dad?"

        The aging man just looked over where the woman had gone behind a curtain to check on another patient. She really hoped that was Dexter behind it. "Caboose was in real bad shape- not like you, but he got a bunch of head injuries. You, Dex, and Franklin were pretty lucky, all things considered. They're not sure right now if Caboose is gonna wake up, and Allison-" Sarge cut himself off pretty quickly, obviously not ready to talk about whatever had happened to Mrs. Church.

        He didn't get asked to elaborate when the woman came back from around the curtain, looking more than a little tired, but she smiled over at Rachel nonetheless. "Hi, I'm Doctor Grey, the head of the pediatric ward. It's a pleasure to meet you." The tone of her voice was slightly unsettling, but then again, she supposed the woman had to smile and act cheery around a bunch of sick and injured kids. "Sergeant, if we could step outside? We'll have a nurse bring Franklin in here soon so you two can catch up, alright, sweetie? I just need to talk to your father about Dexter's condition."

        Nodding, the young teen just laid back again, trying not to fall asleep so she'd be awake enough to see Franklin. Halloween was supposed to be fun. How had it gone so wrong?

   _**The Night Before**_

        All four kids were laughing as they piled into the car, buckets full of candy, and they were all ready to head out for the _Nightmare of Invention_ where Leonard Church and his staff would be waiting to scare any and all visitors. And with the new AI program the man had been working on, it was guaranteed to be more terrifying than the year before. Allison made sure all the kids were buckled in before she'd even start the car, waving to Butch and everyone that had gathered at the Flowers-Doyle house, which mostly consisted of Vanessa and her husband Donald, along with a few other teachers. Butch had let her park the car in their driveway while they were in the neighborhood for trick-or-treating, and while she would've liked to stay and visit more with Vanessa, she needed to get the kids to Mother of Invention so they could finally call it a night. It didn't help that she and Sarge both had sick kids, but she was proud of how Carolina volunteered to watch them.

        Once on the main road leading further into town and away from the residential area, she couldn't help her grin at hearing Rachel complaining that Dex was leaning on her while the boy kept denying it, and all the while Franklin kept threatening to take their chocolates if they didn't watch their buckets more closely. Meanwhile, next to her in the passenger seat, Michael kept bouncing from excitement and talking about how he wanted to go see Loco next weekend. She promised to talk to the boy's parents about it in the morning just as Rachel was practically throwing herself into the front seat to point out someone walking across the street and making her swerve right into the next lane.

        In the chaos of trying to miss the person in the dark, she hadn't noticed that their light had changed as they went right into the intersection, lights blinding her as she tried to at least move to shield Michael even a little bit, even if all she could do was turn in her seat. The last thing she heard was screaming and breaking glass. Screeching tires and crushing metal. And then it all went black.

  _ **Present Time**_

        Franklin had somehow remained conscious during the whole thing, with just some scrapes and minor burns on the right side of his face that were covered up at the moment. "Dex was burned up pretty bad and your left side was pretty much crushed."

        "Okay, but Mrs. Church. What about her?" she asked weakly, trying not to cry.

        By now Sarge and Dr. Grey were back, and the man decided to tell her. "Hun, I'm sorry, but Allison didn't make it. . . . Between watchin' Caboose and callin' Carolina to check on Kai and Tucker, he's been trying to get the courage to start makin' arrangements."

        Waiting a moment to be sure no one else had anything else to ask, Dr. Grey spoke up. "I know this must be hard on you right now, sweetie, but . . . . right now we still have your arm and leg being stored. Dexter's burns were much worse than Franklin's to the point that we're keeping him sedated until we can get skin grafts done. While we would prefer someone with a matching skin tone to his, I'm afraid we don't have much of his own skin to work with. I was wondering if we could use-"

        "Yes. I don't care if he complains about having my stupid skin with its freckles and everything- Just- Please, just help him."

        While they fought and argued a good deal of the time, she couldn't hold back the tears as she thought of him having to deal with even one more thing wrong with himself. No matter how much they would talk in the kitchen late at night because neither of them could sleep, and she'd tell him all the time there was nothing wrong with him. If the skin from her arm and leg could help him look even remotely decent through the burns, she'd gladly let him have it.

        Through the next few days, she and Dex were kept either sedated or on really good pain killers as they healed, and eventually Mr. Church came to their room, looking pale as a ghost and like he hadn't seen a decent night's sleep in years. He talked to her about getting her prosthetic limbs, how he had a deal with the hospital about testing the ones his company's medical and robotics teams were making. She talked it over with her father, to see what he thought about it.

        "I dunno, hun, the medical bills for this alone is gonna take up a good chunk of what I get paid each month. A new arm and leg might actually cost an arm and a leg. Even if I let Leonard take cash outta my check to help pay for 'em, what about all the replacements since you're still growin'?"

        Leonard actually raised a hand a little there. "Sarge, no. You guys are like family to us. I couldn't possibly think of making you pay. Hell, I'll even design hers personally. I know you don't like the idea of charity and pity, but Allison loved taking care of your kids. We loved having them around. If you won't take it as a gift from me, take it as something Allison would've wanted for her."

        The older man didn't answer right away, just asked them for time to think it over. In any case, Dr. Grey went ahead and took all the needed measurements from the remaining limbs and filed them away. She wouldn't give them to Leonard until she had approval from Sarge.

        At one point, Rachel remembered hearing yelling outside the door. Then the door opened and a woman came in, going over to Dexter's side of the room. Her father was right behind her, demanding she leave and that she had no right to take Dex from his custody. This was the first major accident in almost four years. "Unfortunately, Mr. Simmons, I have whatever rights my department allows, and we no longer see you fit to care for Dexter and Kaikaina. Though you're fortunate to be able to keep Franklin as his adoption paperwork was approved just shortly before the accident. As soon as Dexter is well enough to leave the hospital, I want his and his sister's things packed and them ready to leave. Have I made myself clear, Mr. Simmons?"

        He just nodded, fists clenched at his sides as the woman stepped out, heels clacking on the tiled floor. Rachel couldn't think, as what just happened kept repeating itself in her head. It hadn't even been a week yet. Franklin was set to be released next week if he could promise to keep his face covered when he was out of the house and to take care of his injuries properly. As for her, even if she went with a simple leg prosthetic just to walk instead of being confined to a chair, she'd have to go through physical therapy. No one had any idea when Michael would get released, since there was still all sorts of swelling in his brain, but they knew he'd probably be the least okay out of all of them and the last to get out of the hospital.

        After long minutes of silence, Dr. Grey stepped in, having been told a parent of one of her patients had been arguing with some woman in a suit. Before she could ask if they were alright, Rachel looked up at her, fighting tears. "I want the arm and leg." She needed to be strong, and someone needed to look after Franklin when she finally managed to go back to school. And she couldn't do that from a wheelchair.

        Dr. Grey nodded a bit before walking back out, no doubt going to call Mr. Church about her wanting the prosthesis. Sarge just let himself fall into the chair to the right of her, grabbing his daughter's remaining hand. "I'm so sorry you had to find out like this, Rach. And I'm sorry I have to keep apologizing' so much. You kids don't need this right now."

        "Whatever it is, it's not your fault, Sarge." Hearing Dex's voice, the man immediately pulled back the curtain. He'd just gotten back from surgery earlier that morning, and they were surprised he was awake. "God, why does everything hurt? And when did I decide my costume was gonna be a mummy?"

        They explained what had happened over the last few days, and how he'd just had skin grafts done, and even the worst part that had just happened. "I'm sorry, son, but they're takin' you and Kai outta my care." Sarge then began explaining everything else, such as how he was going to look a bit different once the bandages were off.

        "Okay, different how? Like I'm gonna be horribly disfigured for the rest of my life?"

        "Not like that, no. Some of the skin was too bad, so they had to give you grafts, but it was hard to find skin on you to use that wasn't scratched all to hell or burnt, so, they used skin from Rachel. We hope you don't mind freckles."

        Dexter looked over at her on the other bed, not sure what to say to that. Sure, a thank you was probably necessary, but watching her, he saw how her right hand went up to her left arm. Normally when she was nervous, Rachel would usually grab at her forearm, but as he watched, he noticed other things that made it clear that something was very wrong. She didn't like having to lay back if she could help it, preferring to sit up as straight as physically possible. But looking at her face as she grabbed at her arm, he saw her pained expression, and as she shifted awkwardly, he caught sight of the stump. Hearing the rest of what Sarge had to say, Dex was pretty glad Kai had been sick. At least the good news was he was due to get the bandages off in a couple of weeks.

        During the next few days, Franklin would come in to see them, sometimes accompanied by Frank, and Lavernius and Carolina who were usually there to visit their brother. Once in a while Mr. Church would come in to talk with Rachel about her arm and leg, showing her the progress he'd made so far. Dr. Grey was in the most often, checking over their injuries and making sure there was no sign of infection, as well as going over the process of attaching the arm and leg Mr. Church was making with Rachel and what all her physical therapy would entail. Their favorite part of the day had to be when Sarge would bring Kai over after school for a couple of hours before they had to deal with Mr. Flowers giving them their homework and going over the notes that had been sent with him.

        Eventually the final week of Dexter's stay came to a close, the social worker from before standing at the door waiting, watching as the siblings said goodbye to Sarge, Rachel, and Franklin. Kai was in tears the whole time, not wanting to go with the woman. "Hey, none of that, cadet. You gotta be strong out there for me, you got that? Need you to keep your brother in line for us. And Dex? Stay safe, okay? Keep your nose clean and don't go lookin' for trouble just cause things ain't goin' your way. You've done good with me, and I don't wanna hear you've been givin' some poor soul trouble over this. Alright?"

        Dex didn't say anything, just glared at the ground, holding Kaikaina's hand to keep her close so she'd quit trying to cling to Sarge. He still refused to say anything as he pulled Kai from the room and followed the social worker, just barely catching the sound of something breaking in the hospital room paired with Rachel screaming at him - probably calling him an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, because I'm an idiot, I forgot ApathyPrisim also did an animatic that was focused on the events of this chapter, as well with showing a couple of things for some later chapters.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru-DAJNQV8Y


	6. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For two of those hit the hardest by the accident, recovery finally begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a long time to figure out, as I had the idea for the chapter title planned, but I wasn't sure how to go about it, nor was I sure how Simmons' arm and leg would work, until I watched a recent SciShow video on YouTube. I also realized there was a lack of Carolina, and a bigger lack of South, so we finally got a moment with a Blue Team member on how their part in this crisis is going. I will warn you, since South and Carolina are teenagers in high school, they have no problems swearing when they know they won't get in trouble. And, I mean, it's South. What did you expect?

     Finally coming to after getting her arm and leg almost unbearably attached, Rachel tried moving her new limbs. "It might take some time for them to respond properly, but F.I.L.S.S. will work with you on it. Record what movements you do and try to make sure everything can keep up. Eventually you should have a pretty natural reaction time," Mr. Church explained. "She'll even tell you if there's anything wrong with the systems so you know if you need to get anything looked at."

 

    Rachel looked at the aging man for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "F.I.L.S.S.?"

    "She's the AI program I've been working on along with this model of prosthetic. This kind is attached to your nerves and muscles, and uses the electric pulses from your brain to move as naturally as possible. While you were out, Dr. Grey implanted a chip that connects your brain to your arm and leg. F.I.L.S.S., if you'd be so kind," the man prompted, a woman's voice soon filling the room.

    _"Good morning, Director. Is there something I can assist you with?"_

    "Just introducing you to Rachel since you two are gonna be getting pretty close over the next few weeks."

    _"Hello, Rachel. I can tell you anything you'd like to know about the function of your new arm and leg, as well as give you performance information and assist with your physical therapy once you have been cleared to return home. I will record any information your doctors give you in case you would like to review it or have forgotten any of their instructions."_

    The ginger just sat there, staring at the arm in her lap. "That's incredible. Thank you so much, Mr. Church," she told him, trying not to cry at all of this. She couldn't believe how well her recovery was already starting out.

    "Alright, well now that that's out of the way," Dr. Grey began, making her presence known again to the girl. "We need to get some breakfast in you so we can get you down to the physical therapy center. In the meantime, Dr. Church, we could make a quick visit to Michael?"

    "That'd be nice, thank you, Dr. Grey. I'll see you later, Rachel. And Sarge, make sure you keep me up to date on how she's doing with that arm and leg, alright?"

    "You have my word," the old soldier told his boss, bending down to grab a bag beside him as the other two stepped out. "Now, about that breakfast. The doc recommended somethin' light, and I know you're probably tired of eatin' the garbage here - though it at least tastes better'n rations an' mess hall meals - so me an' Franklin whipped up a little sumthin'. It's some yogurt layered with fruits and granola crumbs, and we put a bit of honey on top since some of the strawberries we ate that were left over were still kinda sour."

    "You guys made a parfait? For me?"

    "Yep. Try it."

    Nodding, she let the covered container sit in her prosthetic hand while she used her real one to remove the lid. It wasn't much, but it looked like Franklin had garnished it with a fanned strawberry and some mint. The next time she saw him, she was gonna give her younger brother the biggest hug he deserved. God, she was going to cry at just the thought of him being her _brother_. She had to admit, though, that she was glad she wasn't going to be solely dependent on her right arm for everything anymore. The idea of having to braid her hair one-handed was a nightmare, and with how rough Sarge normally was, that didn't look like a great option. Although, Franklin seemed to like it the couple of times he'd asked, and he followed her instructions on how to do it pretty well. Crap, she was really close to crying now.

    "You okay there, Rach?" Sarge asked, concerned when he noticed her eyes kept wanting to tear up.

    "Just- Overwhelmed, I guess? I mean, I've lost my arm and leg, we lost Dex and Kai, but Franklin's my _brother_ now, and I have a new arm and leg, and you guys have done so much to help me." By now she'd actually started crying, unable to hold it back anymore.

    "Hey, shh. No need for all the water works, Rach. We're family, it's what we do. I would do anything for you kids, and I know you'd do the same for each other. Now eat up so you can get dressed an goin' before that doc of yours takes it outta my hide, alright?" he asked, laughing a bit at the thought of the doctor physically attacking him for delaying his daughter's physical therapy session.

    Once she'd pulled herself together and finished her breakfast, she grabbed her gym clothes that had been brought by so she had something comfortable to wear. Even though she didn't like actual sports, she could appreciate a good run around the gymnasium and Sarge always emphasized how regular activity was healthy for them. After Sarge stepped out, she went through the interesting process of working with F.I.L.S.S. to remove her night gown and put on real clothes for the first time in weeks. Probably a month, really, since Thanksgiving had recently passed. God, was it really almost Christmas?

    Getting into her wheelchair so she wasn't doing too much at one time, she left her room just as Dr. Grey was coming back down the hall. "Wonderful timing! Oh, and Sarge, Dr. Church said he wouldn't mind you going in a bit later today if you wanted to stay and see how Rachel's first session went. This way you can learn about some of the exercises they'll be putting her though to get used to walking again and using her new limbs!"

    "That alright with you, Rach?" he asked, knowing it was ultimately her call.

    She just nodded, and Dr. Grey smiled. "Perfect. If you two will just follow me, I'll show you the physical therapy center. This way, once Rachel's walking well enough and released, you'll know where it's at for her weekly sessions. And don't worry, I'll try to make sure they're on Saturdays so it won't interfere with classes once she finally goes back. Also, how's Franklin's recovery been? He's not due back for me to take a look at his face again for another two weeks."

    Jesus, this woman was a chatterbox, Rachel thought as she wheeled herself behind her doctor and father. Though, she had to admit, this _was_ the first time she'd seen him talk so much to someone who wasn't one of his kids, a Church, or a teacher. Granted she didn't know who all he talked to at work, she knew for a fact he spent his lunch breaks with Mr. Church. But this was weird and pretty much unnatural for Sarge.

    Thankfully her first session was rather easy and mostly just simple leg exercises she could do while bored in bed, but they did do a little bit of a stress test with the bars to see how long she could stay standing without too much effort, which was just for a few seconds, but they assured her she'd get better. After a short break, she'd done a few more exercises before her dad finally left for work, promising Lopez would be by later with Franklin and Lavernius, which was good because that gave her time to get more familiar with F.I.L.S.S.

    "Alright, so how waterproof are these things?" she asked, one of nearly a dozen questions that had already come before. This level of technology on an arm and leg at her disposal was a marvel of modern science and she couldn't  _not_ be fascinated by it. All of this technology was hers and she had access to free upgrades as she got older and needed replacements as she grew!

    _"Your arm and leg can be completely submerged for up to an hour at a time, but require at least half an hour out of water to keep systems running normally. Accidental electrocution also won't be a problem, as there is a protective coating that prevents the conduction of electricity on the surface level. The sensors on the palm also measure your grip and are padded so nothing will slip on its own, and because the chip in your brain is also connected to the ones in your prosthesis, you will be able to 'feel' textures through the sensors."_

    Rachel couldn't help but think of how cool all of that was, immediately bringing her left hand up to her face, getting the slight sensation of her soft skin. She hadn't noticed earlier, still adjusting and getting used to it all. At this rate, by the time Franklin came to see her, she'd be nothing but a crying mess from all of these experiences.

    And while Rachel was becoming accustomed to her new limbs, Carolina was still struggling to cope with the fact that she had to help keep her family from falling apart. It was a free day in gym, and she was taking every advantage of it to use the workout room, furiously hitting her fists into the punching bag. "Christ, Carolina, you look like me when North's made one of his stupid snide comments. What crawled up your ass?"

    "Shut up, South. You know what's wrong," she told the purple-tipped blond between punches, very tempted to try out that roundhouse kick from her self-defense classes.

    "Fair point. Just chill for a second?"

    "Says the Queen of No Chill?" Carolina asked with a skeptical eyebrow raise before actually trying out that kick.

    "Fuck, doesn't that hurt? Just stop for a damn second!"

    "Come over here and make me, South," the red head dared, continuing on like nothing had happened. Her anger at the situation was burning through the pain.

    South just rolled her eyes, knowing that if she actually tried, it would escalate to a fight, and she wasn't allowed to do that for the rest of the semester. "Fine, keep punching the bag, but it won't bring her back, and it won't wake your brother up."

    "And neither will stopping!" she yelled, finally looking at the other girl and suddenly glad they were the only ones who were using the work out room at the moment. "Nothing will bring my mother back or wake up Caboose, but what else am I supposed to _do_ , South?!  _Pray?!_ I'm pretty sure if there is a God, he sure as hell doesn't give a  _damn_ about my family! So tell me what I'm supposed to do!"

    "For starters, have you even looked at yourself? You look like you haven't slept all month. Hell, I doubt you're even eating most days. I've seen the way York and them have been looking at you, Carolina. They're worried, everyone is. Throwing yourself into intense exercise like this probably isn't doing yourself any favors. You still have a younger brother who's probably scared as hell and needs his big sister and your dad probably needs all the help he can get now that he's having to work regularly again. He's got you and your brother to take care of, another brother in the hospital he's trying to keep updated on, and an entire company to run! And what're you doing? Bullying a goddamn punching bag?"

    Carolina stood there, looking at the ground, taking in everything South had told her. She was so _stupid_. You know you're pretty bad off when freaking South Dakota was the one lecturing you. And she definitely wasn't soft on people or going to pull her punches when she did it, either. She made you take the entire verbal beating. "Since when were you so . . . smart?" Carolina managed, only to see that the blond girl had walked out and went to bother one of the freshmen girls in their class. She was pretty sure it was the one they called Ohio.


	7. The Doyles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little look at some recent events from the perspective of some family friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had this chapter mostly written for months, just some slight changes and I, y'know, finished it. This is written mostly from Florida's perspective, but we do get a bit from Kimball. And we get to see Loco! I love two Blue boys. Chronologically, this chapter actually takes place between five and six, but I felt it fit better as chapter seven. Also, two chapter updates in two days? What sorcery be this?

        Butch Flowers sighed as he buried his face in his hands, neglecting the coffee Reginald had poured for him nearly half an hour earlier. It had been weeks since some of his favorite kids had been to school, and he was starting to worry, especially with Michael, who had lost his mother. Sarge had even lost Dexter and Kaikaina because of the accident. The only one who had been to school lately was Franklin, but his face was still to be wrapped in bandages. The poor boy would fidget nervously when the subject of the bandages finally being removed was brought up, as the doctors were really the only ones who knew what his face looked like - he refused to see his face if he could help it.

        Feeling a hand tug at his shirt, Butch looked down and saw his son looking back up at him, worried. "You look sad again," he told him plainly, poking at his face.

        "I'll be fine, kiddo. Where's your dad, hmm?"

        The boy's face scrunched up some as he thought, trying to remember the last place he'd seen the Englishman. "Outside?"

        Nodding, Butch got up and walked to the backyard with his son, seeing the English teacher talking with Vanessa and Donald. "Wasn't aware you two were coming over today. I would've made those tea cakes you and Reggie like."

        "Nonsense, Butch. You do enough. Too much lately, it seems. Have you been sleeping alright, ol' chap?" Donald asked, noticing how tired the younger man looked.

        Sighing, he sat down and pulled the little boy onto his lap, petting his messy hair down. "I've seen better nights. Frank was spending all of his lunches in my office until Franklin was able to come back. Not to mention he's always so worried about Dexter and Kaikaina after they were taken away, and Sarge is getting stressed out from that and Rachel getting her prosthesis soon. Then there's poor Michael who's still not awake and might not be able to come to school for the rest of the year. . . ."

        Vanessa looked down at her cup of tea for a long time, thinking back to when she was friends with Allison in their school days. They'd drifted apart for a while, but as each of the woman's children came into her school, she couldn't be happier to see how well Allison had done as a mother. She remembered one time they had met up for lunch years ago when Carolina was still a child and the blond had expressed her fears about possibly not being able to have another baby and that she and Leonard were thinking of adopting at some point. Barely a year later, she had managed to safely give birth to Michael, despite it being high-risk, but they still wanted at least one more child, so they decided they'd adopt one close to his age so he had someone he could relate to better - especially when they noticed the boy was showing some of the same signs of autism Leonard had as a child. Now, though? It was hard to believe she wasn't there anymore.

        "I heard that Leonard personally designed Rachel's new arm and leg. It was all over the papers. _'C.E.O. and president of Mother of Invention Industries is giving a valued employee's daughter the ability to walk again after a devastating car crash'_ , I think was in one of the headlines. Front page. They even mentioned Dr. Grey being hers and Dexter's surgeon for the grafts and doing the amputations." Honestly, the news stories were starting to make Vanessa sick lately.

        "Andrews really loves hearing herself talk, doesn't she?" Reginald huffed, holding onto Butch's free hand. "They're just children, not a story."

        Butch squeezed his husband's hand firmly at this, knowing he was a bit fond of Carolina and her group. "Hopefully things get better soon."

        Donald nodded in agreement and took a sip of his tea. "We could really use some good news at this point. There's been too much pain these last few weeks."

        "Amen to that. By the way, how's Loco been?" Vanessa asked, looking at the boy in Butch's arms. He didn't really talk around them much, but he was getting better. Honestly, the only other time she could remember her in-laws looking this stressed was when they'd first taken the boy in.

        "A lot better, actually. He's doing more full sentences now, but he sticks to smaller words. I was talking to Leonard the other day, and he's thinking of just letting Caboose repeat the year when he does finally wake up, which puts him and Loco in the same grade. I might see if we can't get them in the same classes. Loco should be a lot better by then."

        "I'll look forward to seeing you at my school next year, Loco," she told the child, smiling softly at him.

        Noticing the tea was gone, Butch led the others inside where it was warmer and went to put on another pot for them. Vanessa followed him into the kitchen, feeling that there was a bit more to Frank spending lunch in his office. "What's really going on with Frank?"

        The tanned male sighed, leaning against the counter once he got the water started to boil. "I wish I knew, Nessa. It's one thing for it to be from loneliness or just standard bullying, but I don't think that's what CT's been doing, since Franklin's done the same thing a few times himself before everything happened. Something tells me it's a lot more personal, but whenever I try getting them to talk about it, Franklin clams up. And if Frank's there, too, that makes him stop talking about it immediately."

        "Well, Butch, if I know you, you're working on a way to solve what's going on and are ready to pull the necessary strings." Honestly, if it helped restore some level of normal in her school, she'd gladly take it. Especially if it also helped with her students' mental health.

        Once the tea was ready, he took the tray into the living-room, where the Doyle brothers had moved on to political debates and Loco was wrapped up in his wolf throw blanket he'd gotten for his first birthday with them. "You want something warm to drink, too, kiddo?" he asked, only getting a nod and quiet 'please' from the boy. Honestly, for only having been in their care for a little over a year, Loco had come a long way from when he'd met him two years ago and he would panic at any adult even slightly raising their voices. "Alright. And when I hear from Mr. Church that Caboose is awake, we can go see him. Kay?" Again, all he got was a small nod.

        The two boys got along rather well, and it was good for Loco to get out and hang around children his age. It'd taken some time, considering how shy Michael could be around new people and how Loco was still adjusting to living with other humans again and learning that human behaviors weren't anything like how wolves behaved. Though the youngest Church boy didn't mind the way Loco taught him about the wolves he used to live with before. It was one of their ways of bonding, and Butch could tell his son was having a hard time accepting that he couldn't see his best friend right now.


	8. Catching Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tucker is finally fed up with Donut refusing help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is a chapter with Doc and Donut again. This takes place a little closer to Simmons getting the prosthesis, so just bit closer to Simmons getting to come home, but not quite there yet. I feel like a minor time skip is coming up soon, though. And a warning for this chapter, there is slight homophobic language. I really wish I could focus more on it and make the anti-gay bullying a bit bigger of an issue, but I already attempted that with the original draft for chapter three and accidentally took it way too far, so yeah . . . That's why the Temple character tag got removed months ago.

        For the most part, it had been a pretty okay day. Up until he was run over by two blobs of pink and purple. Seriously, could these two watch where they were going for once?

        "Tucker, oh thank God!" Franklin gasped, trying to catch his breath from running all the way to the gym from the main building. "I was so worried you'd already be gone by now. You've gotta hide us. Please?"

        "Wh- Hide you? Slow down, dude, and tell me what's wrong."

        "No time. CT's not too far behind."

        Just the mention of the girl sent up a red flag as he pushed the sixth graders towards the boy's locker room. "You guys hide out in here for a bit while I try to find the coach or someone."

        Franklin started to internally panic as he begged the older boy not to get any of the staff. They just had to wait it out and they'd be fine. Then, once the coast was clear, they could go back to the carpool and wait for Lopez to pick them up. Once Lavernius was sure the younger two were going to be okay, he ran back to the main building, hoping he could find someone, against  Franklin's wishes. This had been going on all year, and it had only gotten worse since the blond had come back to school. At this rate, the only way anyone would know what was going on was if CT actually beat the crap out of him and Frank.

        Speaking of blonds, he was a bit surprised to see Wash at the middle school, but as soon as they'd made eye contact with each other, the older teen was getting Carolina's attention and pointing him out to her. He took this as a good enough sign and ran over to the group of high schoolers. "Carol, I need you guys to come with me to the gym! CT kinda chased them that way and I made them hide out in the guys' locker room."

        David's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of CT, but they all followed the younger teen to the gymnasium, where they could hear a fist beating against a door and a girl's voice yelling. He didn't miss Lavernius muttering 'shit' before sprinting ahead, Carolina scolding him as she easily kept up. Getting to the door, he saw the problem, which wasn't what he was quite expecting, despite being told who it was.

        "Open up, you stupid fags or I'll beat your faces in tomorrow!" she yelled just before a hand grabbed her arm.

        "Connie, what the hell?" David demanded, easily pulling her tiny frame away from the door. "Are you serious right now?"

        "Wait, Wash, you know this brat?" York asked, more than a little surprised, considering how rude the girl was.

        The blond nodded, glaring down at Connie. "She's my little cousin. Lavernius, you can tell them it's safe now."

        Not saying anything, Lavernius gave a gentle knock and gave them the all clear. The younger two stepped out hesitantly, the blond trying to stay in front of the brunette. It honestly kind of reminded him of North and York in that regard. Except North and York both weren't afraid to fight someone if they had to, from what he'd heard.

        "Well, Wash, these two are Frank and Franklin. Franklin's-" Carolina began explaining, only for him to interrupt her.

        "One of Sarge's kids. You mentioned him before." Sighing, David readjusted his grip on his cousin, holding onto her shoulder rather firmly. "Sorry about this, you two. You've got my word that my aunt and uncle are gonna hear about this tonight," he promised, ignoring how Connie was trying to squirm out of his hold. "Now, Connie, you're gonna go get on your bus and I don't want to hear that you've been calling anyone those kinds of words again, got it?"

        The little girl just nodded, tears pricking her eyes from the pain of her older cousin's vice-like grip on her shoulder, and he finally let go so she could run off to the buses. On their way back to the carpool zone, Carolina did her best not to lecture the three middle schoolers on what just happened, but promised that she would tell Lopez about it, knowing the information would get passed on to Sarge. No matter how much he wanted to argue and beg her not to, Franklin went with it, knowing there was no point anymore. It was one thing when Connie got some of her friends involved and Rachel and Dexter had gotten into fights over it, but now there was proof that Connie herself was starting all of it.

        Just as the pair of sixth graders were about to shut the car door, David stopped them. "Look, I really wanna say I'm sorry again. If I'd known she was using that kind of language, even actively threatening other kids, I would've made sure it stopped a long time ago. But next time, you guys should really tell someone." They just nodded, and David let the door shut as he followed Carolina and the others to her car, Lavernius getting in a quick wave at them before Lopez drove off.

        This time, Lopez had taken them back to Sar- taken them to the house, neither saying anything as they sat at the kitchen table doing homework, aside from the occasional question of how to do a particular math problem or asking for clarification on another assignment. The two hours ticked by, both boys refusing Lopez's offer of a snack as they worked, Franklin just wanting to distract himself from what Sarge was possibly going to say when he finally got home. Part of him wondered how bad the talk would be with Frank and his parents, but knowing Mr. and Mrs. DuFresne, they probably gave Sarge a list of guidelines so both talks could be done at one time. Of course, neither talk would ever really be done. Not really.

        Around 5:30, the greying man finally got home and thanked Lopez, trying to invite him to stay for dinner, but the younger man excused himself, given the sensitive nature of the conversation he was about to have. Walking into the kitchen, Sarge went through the fridge and pulled out what was going to make up dinner, motioning for the two young teens to get up and help. "Now, who wants to tell me why you never told anyone exactly what was going on?"

        Franlin shifted awkwardly on his feet as he cleaned off the potatoes. "I- I didn't want you to worry, and I thought she'd stop after a while, and even though she didn't, you already have enough going on with Dex and Kai being gone and Rach still in the hospital," he told the man, starting rather calm before breaking down and abandoning his task of cleaning the vegetable, clinging to Sarge and crying. "I'm sorry."

        "Franklin, look at me, son. This isn't your fault. I just wish you'd told someone. Those words I told you it's not okay to use? You should always tell some kinda adult if a kid is bullyin' you and usin' those words. You two got that?" he asked, looking at Frank, too, who nodded, both boys giving him a quiet 'yes, sir.' "It's never okay for anyone to say those words to anyone else, especially at your age. You boys are still growin' and learnin' about yourselves, and I want y'all to do me a favor. Even if you two don't end up linkin' other boys or whatnot, you have to promise me you won't ever treat someone who does the same way that girl was treating you. Got it?"

        "Yes, Sarge," they told him, saluting the man as Franklin eventually let go and went to clean his face off.

        After dinner, the DuFrenses came by to get Frank and asked how it went, to which he told them it went as well as it could've. The two Simmons men then went about their usual nightly routine, minus several other kids, but they managed. Sarge promised himself he was going to explain what had been going on to Butch, that way the school could hopefully do something in case it ever happened again with any other students. For Franklin, though, he knew this was just the start. That boy was far from normal. Yeah, he had an interest in sports and had a more than half-decent throwing arm for football or baseball, but those weren't what he wanted to spend all of his time on. Franklin loved helping make dinner, didn't mind learning to sew in his home ec. class, and had some rather eccentric behavior, but Sarge loved him all the same. At the end of the day, Franklin was still his son. He just wished raising teenagers got easier.


End file.
